Resources
There’s plenty of helpful resources out there! Here are some credible, mostly Canadian, resources that relate to many of Canadian’s common stressors.
If you think you might need professional help to deal with your stress, please visit our Professional Help page for information about how to find professional services related to various life problems that can cause stress
Please note: Although resources are reviewed, these resources are intended for information and referral only. Inclusion of a resource does not imply endorsement by the supporters of this site.
Have a resource you’d suggest be included? Email info@psychologyfoundation.org.
Addiction (alcohol, drugs, gambling)
CAMH - Centre for Addiction and Mental Health This well-known treatment and research institution offers information on addiction as well as other mental health problems.
Gambling Addiction The website of the Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario has a listing of Canadian resources related to problem gambling.
Self-help Resources from Centre for Addictions Research of BC on cannabis, alcohol and substance abuse.
Eldercare
Allaboutestates.ca A collaborative estate planning blog with contributions from lawyers, accountants, trust officers, and social workers to provide current and accurate information about estates, trusts, tax, litigation, guardianship and elder care.
Caregiver Solutions. A Canadian consumer magazine of interest to people caring for family members. Many articles available online.
The Complete Canadian Eldercare Guide, a book written by Caroline Tapp-McDougall, the editor of Caregiver Solutions magazine.
Eldercare Canada - Online tools include link to Service Canada benefits calculator, Retirement Home Cost Calculator (iphone app), Senior Care Advisor.
Managing the Sandwich Challenge. Building a Common Family Framework This 9-page booklet was developed by the Psychology Foundation of Canada to help people who are juggling parenting and eldercare responsibilities at the same time.
Parenting Your Parents Eldercare blog by Bart Mindszenthy, a public relations professional who spent many years caring for his aging parent. Mindszenthy is also author of The Family Eldercare Workbook and co-author of the books Parenting Your Parents. Straight talk about aging in the family.
Financial Concerns
Budget Planning, Debt Management and Credit
Credit Counselling Canada This umbrella association for agencies and individuals who provide credit counseling services, has a listing of certified credit counselors in every province. Their website also offers an online home budget analysis tool, which helps consumers analyze the balance or imbalance between income and monthly expenses.
Credit Counselling Society This not-for-profit credit counselling service, which operates in B.C.. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, has a website, mymoneycoach.ca, with information and tools for consumers about investing, credit and budgeting along with online calculators related to various aspects of personal finance. This independent agency of the Government of Canada offers information for consumers on various aspects of personal finance, including financial planning for life events such as post-secondary education, moving out on your own, living as a couple and having children, along with online tools and calculators related to budgeting, credit cards, financial goals and mortgages
Financial Planning for Retirement
Canadian Retirement Income Calculator This Service Canada online tool will provide you with retirement income information, including the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement benefits.
Planning Your Retirement A resource offered by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada designed to help consumers understand how much money will be needed to retire comfortably and sources of retirement income including Canada's retirement income system.
Mental and Physical Health
Canada has many national, provincial and local support organizations which offer a wealth of information and resources on specific health or mental health conditions (eg. Canadian Cancer Society, Schizophrenia Society, Arthritis Society, Mood Disorders Society of Canada etc.). Some national organizations have online tools that can help you find local services, support groups and other relevant information.
Support Organizations for Specific Health and Mental Health Issues
Coping with mental health diagnosis and emergencies Consumer information from the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Coping with a mental health diagnosis as a family Information from myhealthmatters.ca/ a website of Toronto's Women's College Hospital.
Dealing with a Mental Illness Diagnosis produced by the BC Partners for Mental Health and addictions information
eMentalHealth.ca This comprehensive consumer website on child and adult mental health is a not-for-profit initiative of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
HereToHelp is a project of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information. The website includes a comprehensive list of self-help resources on mental health problems and addictions.
Health Challenges
Canadians talk about living with Heart Disease - Video stories presented by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Coping with a diagnosis of chronic illness Information for consumers from the American Psychological Association's Psychology Help Center
Coping with a diagnosis of MS Information for people dealing with a new diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, presented by someonelikeme.ca a website operated by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
Living with Cancer - Information from the Canadian Cancer Society.
Health and Wellness
Healthy Canadians Health Canada’s website for consumers.
Participaction - A website dedicated to encouraging Canadians to be more physically fit. Includes resources and the latest empirical research
Smoking cessation - If you’re ready to quit smoking, this website provides tools and useful tips for staying on track and becoming smoke free.
Parenting/Children
With so many parenting websites, it can be hard to know which one might be most reliable or right for you. Here are some trusted resources:
The Canadian Paediatric Society offers information and resources about parenting and children’s behaviour on its Caring for Kids website.
The Canadian Association of Parent Child Resource Centres has an extensive list of downloadable parenting resources. They also offer a list of trusted parenting websites.
The Encyclopedia on Early Child Development offers a wealth of parent-friendly, science-based articles on child development, child health and parenting.
The Psychology Foundation of Canada offers a number of downloadable publications for parents through its Parenting for Life program. Also see the Kids Have Stress Too! program.
Children with Special Needs
For parents of children with special needs, there are many national, provincial and local support organizations, related to specific special need or health conditions. Special Link: The National Centre for Child Inclusion, has an extensive list of websites and organizations of interest to parents of children with various disabilities and chronic diseases.
Youth Substance Use
Alcohol Sense BC: www.healthyfamiliesbc.ca/home/articles/topic/alcohol-sense This resource, part of Healthy Families BC, provides parents and caregivers with tips, tools and videos for starting conversations that will help guide kids towards healthy decisions when it comes to alcohol.
Cannabis use: This guide provides an honest and thoughtful discussion on cannabis so parents can make better decisions about cannabis use—or non-use—in the context of your family and be better equipped to have productive conversations with their children.
From Grief to Action (http://fgta.ca/) is a support network for families who are affected by addiction. It includes a coping kit and links to treatment centres.
“In the Know” Webinar series may be helpful to parents and cover a wide range of topics, such as "Paying Attention: Relationship or Behaviour?” – Talking to youth about substance use.” www.forcesociety.com/in-the-know
www.heretohelp.bc.ca Offers resources to help people to live well, prevent and manage mental health and substance use problems. It was developed by the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information.
Child and Youth Mental Health
Children's Mental Health Ontario is an organization dedicated to distributing the latest statistics and news articles that concern children’s mental health. The focus is largely Ontario, however there are some resources which are Canada-wide.
Institute of Families for Child and Youth Mental Health A parent and youth-driven network dedicated to making child and youth mental health services more youth and family-friendly.
Kelty Mental Health Providing resources for youth, parents/caregivers and health and school professionals, including cross cultural references and a newly launched eating disorders webpage.
Mindcheck.ca is designed to help youth and young adults in British Columbia check out how they’re feeling and quickly connect to mental health resources and support. Support includes education, self-care tools, website links, and assistance in connecting to local professional resources.
Teenmentalhealth.org This Canadian website on adolescent mental health has a wealth of information for parents and teenagers including an extensive list of publications for consumers.
Personal Safety
If you feel personally unsafe for any reason, your best resource is your local police department. In an emergency call 911. If you are woman who is feeling unsafe because of issues related to partner abuse, contact your local women’s shelter.
National Clearinghouse on Family Violence Offers information and resources related to intimate partner violence, child abuse and neglect and abuse of older persons.
Relationships
Significant relationship problems are often hard to solve without professional help.
Clinical psychologists offer expert counseling and therapy for numerous life problems including relationship problems. For information about finding a psychologist, visit the website of the Canadian Psychological Association.
Marriage and Family Therapists are professionals who can help people understand and find solutions to relationship problems. To find out more, visit the Registry of Marriage and Family Therapists in Canada. Or visit yellowpages.ca and search using the name of your community and keywords such as: psychologist, marriage counseling or family therapy.
The website of Ottawa Couple and Family Institute (OCFI) offers five articles on love and intimate relationships free-of-charge on its website. The articles were written by noted psychologist, relationship expert and author Dr. Sue Johnson, who is also the founding director of the OCFI
Unemployment
Most communities have other sorts of employment service agencies. Search in the telephone directory or on the Internet using keywords such as: employment counseling, career counseling, job search.
Federal employment services (including Employment Insurance and Job Bank) are now accessed via Service Canada.
Wellbeing in the Workplace
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety has very credible information for those who are experiencing any number of issues - from disease to legislation. This page provides answers and is a good starting point for those beginning to seek information that is pertinent to their concerns.
Great West Life has created a website dedicated to promoting mental health in the workplace; this website is designed to help individuals deal with some common workplace stressors, such as burnout, and how employers can help employees resolve minor conflicts. There are also separate categories for job specific strategies and free resources, which cater to specific issues.
Psychology Foundation of Canada:
Staying on top of your Game – includes a series of short articles on a wide variety of topics
Work-Life Balance series
Bouncing Back. How workplace resiliency can work for you : (For employees)
Managing to Manage Workplace Stress (For managers and employers)
Managing to Manage Across Generations at Work (For managers and employers)
The Struggle to Juggle: Stress Management Strategies for You and Your Family
Workplace Safety
Listing of provincial and territorial worker’s compensation boards Provided by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
OHS Answers A free information service provided by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety whose mandate it is to promote improvements in occupational health and safety by providing practical information to answer workplace concerns.
Workplace Standards and Equity This Government of Canada website offers information on Federal Labour Standards, Equality and Inclusion, the Wage Earner Protection Program and minimum wages in each province and territory.
Workplace Human Rights
If you feel your human rights have been violated, contact your provincial or territorial Human Rights Agencies. The Canadian Human Rights Commission has a list of provincial agencies.
Provincial/Territorial Mental Health Related Help Lines
Yukon, Nunavut and NWT: 1-800-661-0408
British Columbia: www.healthlinkbc.ca or 811
Alberta: http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/info/Page12630.aspx or 811
Saskatchewan: http://www.sk.211.ca/
Manitoba: http://www.gov.mb.ca/healthyliving/mh/crisis.html
Ontario: http://www.mentalhealthhelpline.ca/ or 1-866-531-2600
Quebec: http://www.telaide.qc.ca or 1-877-700-2433
New Brunswick: 1-800-667-5005
Nova Scotia: 1-888-429-8167 or 811
Prince Edward Island: http://www.theislandhelpline.com/ or 1-800-218- 2885
Newfoundland and Labador: http://www.health.gov.nl.ca/health/mentalhealth/help_now.html or 1-888-737-4668